Having played the original Ballblazer on my old Atari 130xe twelve years 
ago, this was one title I've waited a long time for. The original was in 
my opinion the greatest two player game of all time. The graphic engine 
was waaay ahead of its time, the gameplay was perfect (simple to learn, 
but can take months to master) and the music was incredible.  Obviously 
I had very high expectations for Ballblazer Champions.

So how does it measure up?
-----------------------------------

Before I get into that, let me talk about the gameplay differences. Some 
are improvements, while others I fail to understand why they messed 
around with. 

First off, I really like the way you can upgrade your rotofoils.  That's 
a very nice touch and adds for an added strategy element in both two 
player and tournament modes.  The power restore and depletion zones are 
nice as well. Basically there are certain zones on various stadiums that 
will restore or deplete your energy.  Energy conservation is also a new 
addition to the game.  Basically, each rotofoil (your ships, for those 
who never played the original) has a certain amount of energy that's used 
up whenever you use your weapons or turbos, or even when you gain 
posession of the plasmorb (the ball).  When your energy goes down, your 
ship will slow down to a crawl and your turbos will stop working.  This 
forces players to dribble the plasmorb instead of grabbing hold of it and 
dashing for the goal. The rotofoils still recoil however, so you can 
still use the classic 'launch and recoil into a tailgating opponents 
face' tactic. The single player mode is relatively challenging, and does 
require a bit of skill (you won't finish this game in one night). The 
stadiums are nice and each need different strategies to master; which 
give the game more longevity.

Now the bad. The music simply doesen't measure up to the original. It's 
not bad, but it's nowhere nearly as good as the orginial.  Most of it is 
very cheesy guitary/techno.  You can listen to the original Ballblazer 
tune in the options menu, but it's never used in the game. However, The 
biggest fault in the gameplay is the fact that they've taken away to two 
and three point shots.  Basically, you get one point for every goal - no 
matter how far you are from it.  That means there are no longer any OTH 
(over the horizon) 3 point shots.  Also, you need to score 5 goals to 
win, not ten as in the original. And also, the goals are no longer kept 
in the 'tug of war' format, which means that if you're losing by 4 goals 
and there's 10 seconds left in the game - there's no chance of catching 
up. Games themselves are a default of 4 minutes long, compared to 3 in 
the original 

The Sights and Sounds
----------------------------------

Personally I don't care much for graphics in a game; one of my favourite 
PSX games is Twisted Metal 2, and those graphics aren't great. The 
gameplay is much more important. But for those of you that need graphics, 
I'll admit that the graphics in this game are quite good. The grid is 
nicely gourad shaded, and the stadium sides have great textures and 
flashy colours. The lighting effects on the plasmorb are very nice and 
the weapon effects are pretty good too , especially the missile 
explosions. There are some polygon glitches, but that's a common trait in 
every Playstation game.  The framerate is decent. It's no Tekken2, but it 
looks like everything runs at well over 20 frames per second. Even the 
two player mode doesen't really slow down much. Speaking of the two 
player mode - this is fantastic.  This is easily the best two player 
split screen game for the Playstation (even better than TM2).

Sound in the game is quite good.  The gameplay sounds (gaining possesion, 
shooting, shield noises) are all well executed.  Also The play-by-play is 
not annoying for a change, and fits the game well. I also like the way 
they retained the character names from the orginal (Arboster Kipling, 
Xarta, Crockett). The music is OK. It doesen't compare to Wipeout / XL, 
or even Ballblazer 1985, but it's not bad either.

Bottom Line
-----------------

Overall, this is a very nice upgrade to an amazing game.  Most of the 
changes in gameplay are positive (except for the scoring system - maybe 
in champions 2 they'll fix that). The graphics are quite good; the sound 
is good; music is decent; and the game is still a lot of fun to play. If 
you ever played and enjoyed the orginal - do yourself a favour and go buy 
Ballblazer Champions now! If you've never played Ballblazer, but love 
Twisted Metal - then you'll really like Ballblazer Champions too. 
Basically if you like challenging two player games, you can't go wrong 
with Ballblazer Champions.

Rating:
---------
Well I don't believe in number ratings, but if you rate Twisted Metal 2 
an 8/10, then Ballblazer Champions is a 9/10.

Reviewed by: 

Ahsan Haque 
haque@ee.mcgill.ca

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